Knitting machine



June 19, E923.

c. APs-FEL KNITTING MACINE Filed April 2l, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENQR Patented .lune 19, 1923.

UNITED STATESv CHARLES APFFEL, or CINCINNATI, onto.

KNITTING MACHINE.

Application led April 21,1922. Serial No.y 555,810.

T 0 all w hom, t may concern.'

Be it known that l, CHAnLns ArrrnL, a citizen of the United States, residing in Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented new and usetooth or detent 22 which is fitted to andlies adjacent to the pin 12 as shown. y Beneath ful improvements in a Knitting Machine, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a knitting machine designed to produce articles of knitting apparel from yarn and similar material. i

An object of my invention is to produce a machine designed to knit such articles as neck scarfs or mufflers and even to handle such larger articles as sweaters and the like when built of dimensions sufficient to accommodate them.

The machine herein disclosed is built to be of partially mechanical operation and manual operation in the knitting process.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the machine upon a somewhat reduced scale.

Fig. 2 is a ragmental and substantially diagrammatic view of certain elements of the machine to illustrate the knitting operation.

Fig. 3 is a. transverse and somewhat diagrammatic view illustrating the normal or inoperative position of' the elements of one unit of the machine.

Fig. 4 is a view of the parts shown in Fig. 3, but showing them in eXtreme operative relation with each other.

Figs. 5, 6, 7 and 8 are perspective views of details of the machine.

The body of the machine consists of two relatively movable elements 9 and 10 which are so formed as to have a slot 11 between them for the purpose of allowing the woven fabric to pass downwardly and to hang beneath the machine, adjustability of the elements being controlled by screw 18. On the respective elements 9 and 10 are two series of headed pins 12 and 13 and between adjacent pins of each series short trans- .verse slots 14 in element 9 and short transverse slots 15 in element 10. Pivoted at the ends of elements 9 and 10 are members 16 and 17 the use of which will be described later. At each of the pins 12 or 13 there has been provided a separate mechanism for manipulation of the yarn during the knitting operation. This mechanism is illustrated in Figs. 3 to 8 inclusive and a description thereof follows.

Tn its normal position the mechanism is shown ilnKFig. 3. A crank disc 19 is provided with a connected pitman 20, the upper end of which is provided with a pivotally mounted and weightediinger 21 having `a the shoulder 23 ofthe finger `a pawl24 is located and pivoted at appoint 25 on the pitman. The lower end 26 vof the pawl is pressed by` a spring 27 against bar 28 eX- tending longitudinally of the machine for i each set of mechanisms. A spring 29 attached .to the pit-man and bearing against the periphery of the disc holds and presses the pitman against the bar 28. As the disc rotates, the pitman is lifted and as lifting takes place the upper end of the pitman moves away from the pin until the detent 22 is above the head 30 of pin 12. At this point a shoulder 32fwhich is provided on the pitman, allows the upper end of the pitman to move bac-k again toward the pin 12 and simultaneously causes bar 28 to hit the lower end 26 of pawl 24. This brings the upper end of the pawl from beneath shoulder 23 of finger 21. The tension of the yarn loop 31 on detent 22 then causes the finger to be thrown up, as shown in Fig. 4` thus allowing the loop to slip quickly therefrom so that it is instantly removed by the retractile action of the loop tension, from the detent 22, the finger then beingfree to drop by gravity back to normal position. The slots 14 and 15 are provided to permit the weighted ends of the fingers to operate as shown. As soon as the above opera-tion has occurred,v the continued revolution of the disc will bring the parts to the condition shown in Fig. 1.

Tn carrying out the knitting operation I Lplace the yarn upon the pins by Zig-Zagging it back and forth upon them as shown in Fig. 2. brought down upon the loops of the yarn to 'force them over the detents 22 of the fingers into the position shown ait-31 in Fig. 3. T then zigzag another layer of yarn 33 upon the pins and after having done so.r cause the discs 19 to rotate in order to throw the lower lyarn loops 31 over the upper yarn loops 33 the usual manner.

The members 16 and 17 are then I havei madeV the elements 9 and 10 relatively adjustable in order to accommodate varying thicknesses of fabric knitted from different Weights of yarn, screw 18 having been provided for accomplishing this. i

Another feature which may be incorporated is the provision of an operating means such as the cranks 34 and 35 which may be suitably connected with the discs for causing their' rotation;l v

Having thus'desoribed my invention what l I claim iszl. A knitting machine comprising a trame having' a loop-engaging detent' thereon', a

pitmanv having the finger pivot-ally mounted thereon', and a crank adapted to transmit substantially circular movement to the lower end`r of the pitman, whereby the' linger will be causedv to move upwardly, away from.

and then towardl the pin during its upward movement.

2. A knitting machine comprising a ad- `iustable `frame having a series'oil loop retaining pinsthereon, and a mechanism' for each pin adapted to remove looped yarn from the pin, said mechanism consisting of a finger having a loop-engaging ldetent thereon, a

downwardmovement combined with a movement from and then toward'theY pin during the upward movement, a pawl on the pitman` adapted to retain the linger in normal loop holding position until the 'upper limit of the movement of the pitman isreached, and

means adapted to operate the pawl to'release; the finger at the' upper limit of pitman movement. c l

ln witnesswhereof, I aix lmysignature in theV presence of two witnesses:

l CHARLES APFFEL. Vitn'esses:

JOHN SAUER, JOSEPH A. SULLIVAN. 

